They slowly broke contact. Her chest rose rapidly with the exertion of her heart beating against her breastbone. Neither spoke, each processing what had just happened and the implications.
He grimaced, looking as if someone had just pounded a nail in his foot, and she knew how he felt.
“That was a mistake,” she said quickly, her words tasting strangely hollow.
“Yeah,” he agreed, frowning in distress. “I’m sorry…”
She bit her lip. Resentment raised its ugly head as she lamented the fact that she wasn’t free to explore her feelings about Christian. If Belleni knew where she was he’d have Christian permanently removed from the planet and he’d be sure to punish her soundly for her betrayal. Belleni allowed men the use of her body, at his discretion, but if she were to give her heart…she suppressed a frightened shudder at the thought. She wanted Christian to have the opportunity to make his way in the world. She wanted him to open his club and have an honest shot at success. That surely wasn’t possible with her around.
She took a small step away from Christian and made a show of looking at her watch. “We have to get back. It’s almost time to pick up Nico. Thank you for sharing this with me. I hope it works out for you. For what it’s worth I think you’ve got something good.”
“Wait.” Christian followed her, grasping her arms. “I feel I should explain myself.”
“Why?”
“Because I feel bad,” he admitted.
She smiled. “It was just a kiss. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
But it wasn’t just a kiss. Not to her, and judging by the storm gathering behind his eyes, not to him, either. On one hand she was relieved to know she wasn’t alone in her feelings, but on the other hand, it only served to make her want to run far and fast for both their sakes.
“I can’t have a relationship with you,” he said, looking pained. “I just…can’t.”
She stiffened and pulled out of his grasp. “And I wasn’t offering one.”
“Your feelings are hurt,” he stated, his mouth tightening with regret. “I’m sorry. It’s just that—”
“No explanations are necessary,” she retorted, turning on her heel. “I’m serious about the time. I can’t be late to pick up Nico.”
He followed her out the door and locked up. He still insisted on carrying her dance bag as they hailed a cab. She half expected him to pick up the argument as they drove away but he seemed to be mulling over what had happened and what had been said. She appreciated his silence but deep down, a well of sadness lurked. She ached in places that she’d thought for sure were dead. Her damn heart thudded heavily in her chest, reminding her that she had no freedom, no choice, but if she did, she would’ve chosen to see where things could go with Christian.
She swallowed the sad sigh.
If only…
Of course he did. The man was hopeless. She smiled indulgently. “What seems to be the issue?”
“I think it’s time that Skye move here,” he said, causing the bottom of Vivian’s world to disintegrate.
She stiffened. “It sounds as if you’ve made your decision. What did you need my assistance for?”
His smile became calculating. “You can be quite persuasive when you are properly motivated.”
“True. But I do not see myself finding the appropriate motivation to move Skye
and
Nico into this house.” My home.
Our
home, she wanted to cry. “It’s bad enough having that little bastard running around.”
“Vivian, I am not asking your permission,” he reminded her quietly and she shot him a dark, wounded look. How dare he. After all they’d shared? They were a team, better than husband and wife or mere business partners. They shared the burden of secrets that bound them together. What greater bond was there? Perhaps if she’d ignored Belleni’s demand that she abort their child all those years ago, he’d have fallen in love with her instead of the broken dancer. Was it only the child? Or were Skye and the child simply a means to the end with a bonus of having an heir?
Belleni’s face softened and his eyes warmed with compassion as if he’d seen into her heartache and reacted with remorse. He came to her with a heavy sigh. “My dear Vivian,
la mia rosa,
of course it is difficult to do this. You have been queen of my castle for so long. But we must face facts. We are no longer in our youth. Time marches on and we must march with it, yes? Skye is in the bloom, while your petals are…withering. You cannot bear children and I’ve been thinking it’s time to move to the next phase of life. Nico is a good boy, a fine son. A boy such as Nico would do any man proud. Skye would rejoice in another child. I would fill my home with the sounds of my children’s laughter. Imagine how wonderful that would be.” His eyes shone with delight and she felt something inside her shrivel and die. Her hands curled into tight fists and her fingernails dug into her flesh. But again, Belleni noticed nothing. “And of course, you could be their beloved
nonna.
We could all be one happy family.”
She turned away so as not to let him see the rage percolating inside. “I cannot make promises but I will try to find a solution to your problem.”
And to her own. She would rather see them all dead than move that scheming whore into this house. She couldn’t bear the thought of knowing Belleni was bedding the woman under the same roof on a regular basis. She choked down a shudder of disgust. Belleni was becoming a soft old fool if he thought she’d just roll over and accept whatever he dished out. He had forgotten who has been the glue of this operation for more than twenty years.
It was time to remind him.
“I had a great meeting with a possible investor, feels good. I mean I know I’ve come close before with banks but this feels right.”
“I’m happy for you. So what’s up?”
“Can’t a guy call his brother for a little chitchat?”
“Sure. Except that’s not what we do. Because we’re not girls,” Thomas said bluntly.
True. “Okay, you got me. Mama Jo called me the other day and it’s been a while since I’ve been home. I know she misses me but I just can’t seem to get away, especially right now. I figured, since you’re there…”
“Coward.”
“Coward? No, I just don’t want to get blindsided. A good defense is a good offense, right?”
“Look at you, afraid of a four-foot-ten-inch black woman.” He tsked, plainly enjoying Christian squirming and rightly so. “Just call her. She worries about you. I don’t know why but she worries more about you in the big bad city than Owen all the way in California fighting liberal tree huggers and me getting shot at. Go figure. Gotta love her, though.”
Christian smiled around the love they both felt for their foster mother. “Owen’s fighting tree-hugging liberals?” he said, picking up that thread of conversation. “How’s that going?”
“Last I heard, not well. I told him he ought to ditch California altogether but the man seems to love it there. Apparently, there’s some group trying to shut down his logging operation. It’s a mess. But back to you,” Thomas said. “She understands why Owen can’t visit often but she doesn’t understand what keeps you away. And it hurts her feelings when you dodge her calls.”
“I didn’t dodge them exactly,” he said, guilt lodging a rock in his belly. Sending her to voice mail a time or two was not exactly dodging. “But okay, I hear you. So, everything is good with her, though? She’s not sick or anything?”
“Sick?” Thomas repeated, concern following confusion. “Why would you say that? Did she say something to you about not feeling well? I mean, she had some tests run but she said they were routine for a woman her age.”
“Like what kind of tests?” he asked.
“I didn’t ask. She’s so private about that stuff. I figured if she had something to tell me she would but now you’ve got me freaked out.”
“Well, you’re right about her guarding her private business but maybe we ought to find out what kind of tests she’s having done. I’d feel a whole lot better if I knew what was considered routine.”
“Yeah, that’s a good point,” Thomas said, but wasn’t about to let Christian off the hook so easily. “Just give her a call, okay?”
“I will,” he promised. “And you let me know if you find anything above and beyond routine.”
“Deal,” Thomas said. “Listen I gotta go. It’s good talking with you, kid. Let me know how that club deal works out for you. I’m crossing my fingers that it’s what you’ve been hoping for.”
“Take it easy, Thomas.”
“You got it. Talk to you later, little brother.”
Christian clicked off, a nostalgic smile lifting the corner of his mouth. When they were kids, Thomas had been the one who had been the muscle in the group. In the beginning kids had mistaken Thomas’s quiet nature for weakness. They hadn’t suffered that illusion long. No one had been surprised Thomas had chosen law enforcement. It was a natural fit. Christian missed him. Hell, he missed home. He’d been pushing away anything that felt like homesickness for weeks, too driven by this pending deal with Frank Rocco to allow anything else to take hold. He glanced at the dark, thunderous clouds rolling in, heralding the spring storm on the way. “So much for a day at the park,” he said, sighing. Mathias would be bummed to miss out on a day away from the center. Not to mention some time practicing his batting skills. His phone jumped to life and he saw that Gage was calling. He picked up, hoping it was news from Rocco.
“Yeah?” he answered, trying to stay calm.
“Dude, we are so close I can smell it. Frank had nothing but good things to say about you. You nailed the interview, but then I’m not surprised. There’s a reason we call you The Closer. Here’s the deal…Frank wants another meeting. A dinner meeting
at his place.
Do you understand the significance of this?” Gage exclaimed, giddy. “Let me tell you—it’s huge. We’re in. Why else would he call a meeting in his personal space unless he was ready to seal the deal?”
Christian grinned, Gage’s enthusiasm contagious. “Yeah? So when does he want to meet?”
“Next Friday. He said he’d call me with the specifics.”
“Sounds good. Just let me know as soon as you find out so I can get my shift covered.”
“You got it, man,” Gage agreed, then added with a grin in his voice, “Hey, you’ve got a sixth sense about people. How’d you know that I liked Irena when I didn’t know myself?”
“I’ve spent my life watching people. Their body language says what their mouths don’t want to tell. Even though your hands were on Madeline, your eyes kept straying to Irena. And when you looked at her, there was a hunger. So, how’s it working out for you?”
“Pretty good. She’s…damn amazing,” he admitted. “But I still can’t wrap my brain around it sometimes. I mean, she’s not the kind of girl I would normally go for.”
“Why? She’s funny, smart, beautiful. You don’t like those kinds of girls?”
“You know what I mean, man. She’s a bit on the healthy side, very curvy.”
“In my experience, a woman with soft curves is nice when they’re pressed up against you, right?”
“Oh, yeah, very nice.”
“So, don’t worry who turned your head yesterday when you’ve got a gorgeous woman in your today.”
Gage cracked up. “Look at you going all philosophical. All right, that’s about all I can take of that even if it is good advice,” he mused. “See you Friday.”
“Friday,” he confirmed and they both clicked off. Hot damn. This was going to happen. Finally!
“About what?” she asked baldly. She couldn’t imagine there was anything she’d want to discuss woman to woman with Vivian.
Vivian lowered herself into the sofa, her expression contemplative. “Do you know how long I’ve known Belleni?” she asked.
“No.” And she didn’t care. “Why?”
Vivian ignored her query and continued along her own conversation path. “We came from Italy together. We were lovers. My family didn’t approve. He came from humble beginnings but he had a fire inside him that drew me and I knew someday he was going to be someone in this world.” She allowed a small, satisfied smirk. “I wasn’t wrong. I gambled and I won. But all victory comes at a cost.” She hesitated and looked away. Against her better judgment, Skye felt herself sucked into Vivian’s odd choice of tales for story hour. She hadn’t known the history behind Belleni and his pitbull but suddenly a lot of puzzle pieces were sliding into place. “You were not the only one to carry Belleni’s child,” she said, returning her gaze to Skye, who suffered an all-over body shudder at the revelation.
“You have a child?” she asked, stunned.
“I didn’t say that,” Vivian corrected her sharply. “I aborted. It was the sensible thing to do and I don’t regret it. Belleni wasn’t ready to be a father and I certainly wasn’t ready to be a mother. Up until recently, I had believed that was the way of things and the way it should be. However, events of late have changed the status quo and it requires a change in plan.”
“What are you talking about?” Skye asked, a trickle of dread causing her stomach muscles to clench in alarm. “What events?”
At that Vivian smiled, only this time there was no kindness there. “Belleni has changed his mind about fatherhood,” she said. “It would appear that he wants to formally recognize Nico as his son to the world. The story will be that he and I adopted the boy and we will raise him together. Of course, it doesn’t make much sense to have you hanging around once we formalize the paperwork for his adoption so it would be best for you to quietly fade away from Nico’s life.”
A gust of air left her lungs and she gasped against the horror blithely falling from Vivian’s lips. Take her son? Over her dead body. “That’s not going to happen, Vivian,” Skye said, her tone strained, her heartbeat fluttering. “You cannot take my son like it’s your right to do so. He is mine. I have rights. I’ll go to the police. I can take you both down with everything I know,” she said, tears blinding her.
Vivian chuckled. “Oh, that would be unfortunate on your part. Let’s say that you do go to the authorities with some tale of illegal activity going on that sparks an investigation. There is no evidence conveniently lying around aside from your word but I imagine a wealth of evidence proving you’ve been supporting yourself as a prostitute will surface and you may even see jail time. And when the police discover that Belleni and Nico share DNA, it’s doubtful the judge wouldn’t see it our way and conclude that it would be best if you did not see the boy. Oh, and I would hate to hear that something dreadful happened to you. Accidents happen all the time to witnesses for the prosecution. New York can be a very rough town, I hear. Women’s bodies are found all the time, some never identified, and the crimes never solved. Nasty business.”
Skye’s hands were shaking. “Why are you doing this? You don’t even like Nico,” she said.
“He belongs to Belleni and Belleni belongs to me,” Vivian said simply. Her expression softened into something akin to compassion as she said, “Don’t worry, I will raise him to be a fine son. Far better than you are capable. Besides, the unfortunate truth is that you are a terrible mother.”
“I’m a good mother,” she disagreed hotly, wishing she could rip every strand of hair from the woman’s head but her feet were rooted to the carpet as a sense that none of this could possibly be real kept washing over her. “I’m not having this conversation with you. I’ll take up my concerns with Belleni. You can leave now, Vivian.”
Vivian rose. “Don’t waste your time. You know how Belleni hates to be bothered with trivialities. I’ve only come to you as a courtesy. This is happening. I’ve already set the wheels in motion. However, I’m not a cruel woman,” she said, causing Skye to gape with incredulity. “I realize you’d probably like to spend a night or two with the boy to offer your goodbyes. I will make this happen for you. As a gesture of kindness and understanding.” She smiled, speaking into her phone. “Bring him up, Vincent,” she instructed in an even tone. At first, Skye could only stare, the situation spiraling so completely into a nightmare that she couldn’t speak but when she found her words again, her voice was choked with tears.
“You can’t do this.” She started toward Vivian. “You can’t.”
Vivian’s thinly arched brow lifted in sardonic amusement. “Silly twit…it’s done. Frankly, I’d have thought you’d be relieved to no longer have to worry about the boy’s welfare. You can take solace in the fact that he’ll be raised with the best of everything, with every advantage.”
“I gave birth to him, not you,” she whispered. “I won’t walk away from him.”
“Always so difficult,” Vivian murmured with a small sigh. Vincent appeared at the door with Nico. Nico looked with uncertainty between the hulking bodyguard and Vivian until Vivian gestured for him to go to his mother. Nico ran into Skye’s arms and she clung to her child, unable to believe what was happening. Vivian smiled and checked her watch. “I will return for the boy tomorrow afternoon. Is that sufficient time?” Skye didn’t dignify the question with an answer and simply glared. Vivian gave a tinkling little laugh. “Use your time wisely,” she suggested and then let herself out with Vincent in tow.